Sunday, February 26, 2012

Cappadocia , Turkey

The drive to Cappadocia (Our next stop after Pamukkale) was an extremely long drive. I can't exactly remember how many hours it took,but maybe something like 8 or 9? But it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I had my Apple product as a companion.

We arrived around evening, I SAW SNOW FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE. Okay, that's false, but I've never actually seen a city covered with snow...Ok I have but that was when I was 2 and a half years old in Washington D.C, but how are you supposed to remember something 13 years ago?  Anyway, we stayed in Cappadocia for two nights.
I felt like singing 'Mistletoe' by Justin Bieber (No I do not like Justin Bieber. But I like the song I have to admit)  because there was so much snow and the Christmas tree was still up! 'I should be playing in the winter snow,but Imma be inside the warm hotel. I actually kind of wish it could snow for a few days in winter in Melb. I could take tons of photos!



It's really pretty and exciting to see a city covered with a blanket with snow. But of course, it was really cold.

Dinner was surprisingly good, I got hooked on to these flat breads with toppings that taste amazing and it was actually steaming hot. That was nice for a change. I was eating myself with dessert. I go crazy with dessert at buffets, it's not even funny. I inherited the 'sweet tooth' from my mommaa!

Next morning, well I can proudly say that I've been on a hot air balloon! It was an amazing experience. It wasn't as scary as I thought it'd be (I have a fear of heights), it was really calm and not that cold if you wore the right clothing. The views of Cappadocia are really pretty, the only thing I'd recommend is to go in warmer seasons. Typically, autumn or spring is your best choice. Winter is slightly too cold, most of the city is covered with snow so you can't exactly see everything. I actually thought there'd be only a few people on one hot air balloon like how you see in movies, but they actually fit like 30 people into these tiny compartments. I wish I had taken  my Samsung hybrid,but my dad said I could only take my video camera since it's easier. Which I agree,but I could've taken some pretty nice pictures! There were some photographers and they sold some of the photos. So I bought one.

My parents actually didn't go. My mum thought it would be too cold.

Anyway, the whole tour group got dropped off at some random place which I felt was colder than up there. Celebrated with sparkling juice LOL. Oh, and they spelt my name right.
Not. My piano teacher was like "That's even worse than my spelling!" because she has taken all these years to finally spell my name right ehehe! My dad said "Keep it like that! It's like your Turkish name!!!" 
Later in the day, we travelled to all sorts of caves. Cappadocia has really interesting scenery, I don't think you'd ever find a place similar to it besides Disneyland. What I mean is, some of the caves looks like what you'd find in those yeti rollercoaster rides in Disneyland, except Disneyland's are man-made, but Cappadocia isn't. Lots of formation over a very long time. The amazing thing about Cappadocia is how the Christians hid there for so long. Christianity was illegal a while back, so they went to Cappadocia to hide.  

We were taken to this Turkish carpet shop and yeah. Lots of carpets, silk, not silk etc. Hard work. Very,very pretty but not cheap! Some carpets were selling for $5000 USD!! Outrageous! I could buy a couple of shoes, clothes and stuff you know? OH WAIT I CAN EVEN BUY A PLANE TICKET.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

La cuisine francais

I rarely eat French food, it's pretty much once in a blue moon. Unless you count macarons. I'd just like to point out that it's macarons not macaroons. Macaroons are actually coconut kind of biscuits, completely different to the classic macaron which is made out of a a meringue shell with some kind of cream in between. It's delicious. I myself however got the term wrong when I started eating macarons. I have an obsession with macarons.

So French restaurants are pretty much only on special occasions. My oldest sister took the whole family and I to a French restaurant, Bistro Thierry, a restaurant in Toorak (Near the city) for lunch! The only thing I hate about going to these nice restaurants, is that they are all the way in the city and I dislike driving or taking a train there. I don't know why.

The restaurant's food is certainly very tasty, I loved it!



Creds to my dad on this picture!
My dad and my second sister ate oysters as their entrees (They had entree + main while my mum, oldest sister and I had main + dessert).


I ate beef bourguignon, which is  beef braised with red wine! It's one of those classic, traditional French dishes. My first time trying it in fact. The beef just melts into your mouth so nicely, and it's accompanied with mash potato, bacon, carrot and a sauce. My whole family except for my mum ate it. My mum had an eye fillet steak ! It's a minced steak though. It taste good, but I wouldn't order that from the menu since it's minced. I would've probably gotten a minute steak?

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Ephesus and Pamukkale, Turkey

Had a monstrous dinner with my sister and her bf. Went out to Zest 82 (Upstairs though)in Kingsway and I ate the chicken burger. The meal portions there are super uber big, just like the past few times I've been there. Ooh the chicken burger is delicious! Grilled chicken, avocado, bacon, tomato, spinach.Huge meal. Accompanied with crispy chips. However, the service there is pretty horrible. 




Fitness tests in school have been going really great! I was so surprised to be the last girl running the beep test. I never expected that, ever. Maybe perhaps because I've been jogging every Sunday? Anyway, I managed to get 7.2 which I am extremely proud of. I would normally get 5 or 6, and in primary school 4.5, and the average for girls my age is 5! 


So my dad tells me that some of my posts are a little bit too long because some readers probably would skim it through, which is quite true. So I'll try to shorten some posts. But, I have to break up posts about my trip to Turkey because I went to so many places! And I love sharing photos, so please excuse me for uploading like a billion of them.

The next day after Pergamum, we went to Ephesus. But first, we went to a leather shop. It's a huge leather shop, pretty grand! They even put on a fashion show for us. They had a lot of leather jackets, lambskin and even baby lambskin which feels like silk. It feels and looks gorgeous but the price isn't gorgeous at all. But after all, it is leather isn't it?
 Before actually visiting the ancient city, Ephesus , we visited the House of the Virgin Mary. I thought it was actually the house of Virgin Mary (Doesn't the name says it all?), but it's actually a shrine and around that area was where Mary lived her last days. My dad was all like "No lah of course it isn't the original house, that was very long ago lah". *Embarrassing*
The house
 Writing about Ephesus makes me feel nostalgic. I really loved visiting Ephesus. The things I saw, I mean it's a magnificent ancient city, better than expected.

Ephesus is gigantic. Believe it or not, but I'm not kidding when I'm saying that only 15% of the ancient city has been excavated... So much has been excavated, but that's only 15%. I could spend a whole day there without getting bored. #Iloveancientcities

Most ancient sites has Greek and Roman influence, so this city had a lot of that. Bill, our tourist guide said that you can tell what is Roman which are arches and Greek which are columns.

The theatre is amazing. It is one huge theatre.

I'd just like to share a picture of the toilets they used back then. Life was so glamourous back then. :P
And the library.
I actually saw this on the net before I went on my trip. The Celsus library is one of the most unique and gorgeous ancient structures I have ever seen. Well, at least the prettiest library I've ever seen.

We managed to drive up to Pamukkale after lunch (Which was fish which was surprisingly delicious). Pamukkale means 'cotton castle' in Turkish. The place has terraces and hot springs. It's a natural sight, and it's beyond beautiful. While walking on the path, I heard one of the aunties from the tour group say "Now we know why God created the world!" It seems pretty magical to me, I've never seen anything like that! I felt quite blessed to be able to see such a site like this, it's kind of one of those phases and moments you have in your life (Yet I'm only a teenager) and you're just so appreciative of what you have. Not to say that I wasn't before, but I felt even more blessed.
OH we passed an ancient city, Hierapolis.

We stayed at a hotel which had a a thermal pool WHICH I REALLY WANTED TO GO TO, but my dad thought it was a bit too troublesome. Poop.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Kek Lok si lights


These images are courtesy of my uncle, Ku Zhang! Before I left Penang, on the last night, we went to a spot and we could see from far the Kek Lok si temple and the other lights being lit up since it was Chinese New year. He told me that he'd take pictures and send them to me :)

Looks very purty, I love lights. Lights remind me of Christmas. I miss Penang!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Pergamum, Turkey

School's been going pretty great. I quite like my teachers... Much better compared to last year. Believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to all of my subjects except for drama, health and sewing. Drama is rather (REALLY) awkward, health well, I never really liked health and sewing? Sewing is fun but I'm not particularly good at it. I'm nervous about my fitness tests in P.E. I have the beep test (This running test. Tests your stamina), 1.6 km run, flexibility test and sit ups test. 


MY SECOND DAY IN TURKEY : We visited two ancient sites. I think it must've been Christmas day? Turkey doesn't celebrate Christmas since 99% of the people are Muslim, so it's more of a commercial thing and it's just like another day. But even if it's considered as 'commercial', in Istanbul, I didn't see a lot of decorations. I thought Istanbul would have a lot of decorations since it's a major city, but nope. I was kind of disappointed with the Christmas I had, I mean I didn't have any big dinner sort of thing. it was just at a Turkish buffet. Oh and no, I didn't eat turkey in Turkey! 


I'd also like to add on to about the food. I was honestly just so disappointed with the food, I was expecting a lot more from Turkish cuisine. But it was the same like I said in the previous place. BORING and you get sick of it. I think the tour group should've given some free time so you could pick where to eat for lunch or dinner. That was the case with Reliance when I went to South-Eastern Europe with my parents & my mum's two sisters, Yi Ma and Yi Yi. We had some meals provided by the tour, then we got free time to explore around and choose a restaurant to eat at. This tour, we didn't get any choice. My dad suggested that maybe it was the fact that we were in Turkey. Well, couldn't they have just dropped us off and recommend a restaurant? Or let us order whatever we want instead of the set meals. Eeyer. 

So before I get off topic, that morning, we visited the ruins of Troy. I was actually really excited to visit the ruins of Troy. Before I wasn't aware that Troy was in Turkey. I always thought it was in Greece since movies portray it in Greece with you know all those wooden horses and trojans, blahblahblah.  But it's actually all Turkish. According to our tourist guide, Bill, the Turks were really angry when they portrayed the location in Greece in the movie Troy with Brad Pitt lol! 

There was a really big wooden horse. I climbed up , the stairs were very steep. 

But frankly, I think that the ruins of Troy really isn't that great. It wasn't up to my expectations. I guess it's because everything is everywhere at each site, and it's kind of hard to imagine what was what. You just see a lot of old rocks and bricks. 



OH ON THE WAY (I think) we were driving around this beautiful mountain (Reminded me of Croatia), and we saw a GREEK ISLAND from far! Lesbos! The word 'lesbian' is actually derived from the name of that island. I want to visit Greece one day. Especially Santorini.

We visited another ancient site, Pergamum (Or Pergamon. The pronunciation is Pergamon). We visited the Asclepion of Pergamum which was a medical healing centre back in the ancient days.  Methods of treatment included praying, sun and water baths, exercises,  walking bare-footed, listening to music, drug therapy and giving blood, etc. There was also a stream so the water was nice to listen to. 

I also learned that the theory about snakes healing people. Our tourist guide said that a man who was dying, was so sick and wanted to kill himself. So he stumbled across two snakes, thinking that they could bite them and he could die. But instead, he healed!  
The statue thing of the two snakes
The Asclepion of Pergamum is really beautiful, I loved visiting that place. There is a library, but what is left isn't that much, so kind of hard to imagine what it would've looked like. The Asclepion of Pergamum also has a big theatre! The theatre is stunning. Bill said that it's a 'small' theatre, and I didn't understand what he meant but later on when I went to Ephesus, I understood why since I saw the theatre there. The theatre in the Asclepion of Pergamum can hold 5,000 people. The one in Ephesus can hold up to 20,000 people! However, in my opinion, I think the one in the healing centre looks prettier and more unique. Everything is preserved well! Found in 4th century BC. I really admire ancient things. 




Dinner was pretty average. I think it was at a buffet? I'm not quite sure. 

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Shivering in Istanbul

I'm posting about Turkey this time! I went to Turkey with my parents in late December. I left about 2 days before Christmas. Turkey is probably one of the most interesting places I've been to besides south-eastern Europe. You see, I like ancient sites and history (I don't understand why  a lot people don't like history..). Turkey has a lot of history, seriously. And a lot of ancient sites, probably the most I've ever seen. According to our tour guide, he said that Turkey has even more ancient artifacts , places more than Greece (I was surprised to hear that). I expected Turkey to be 'great' but it was greater than expected! My dad was left with a really good impression and loved the places we visited. He also likes history. I would say Turkey is an 'exotic' place to visit, it's not your typical European country with lots of cathedrals and in some, lots of castles.

Turkey is located on two continents, Europe and Asia. But only 3% is on the European side. It took 11 hours from KL to Istanbul (Which is not the capital. I was surprised to hear that in humanities last year.) AND I GOT A HUGE SHOCK ABOUT HOW COLD IT WAS. It was winter ( Actually it's the last month of winter there now. My dad got confused and thought I meant it was the last month of winter when I went, but I mean it was the first month of winter there but now it is the last month of winter) and it was raining which made the weather even worse... I didn't really expect such coldness. But the next few days weren't so cold. I wore multiple layers, gloves, scarf and there was sun! It's not so bad when you're wearing enough clothing and there's the sun.

We always travel with Malaysian tours so the tour company we travelled with was GTT. Never taken GTT before, had always taken Reliance from the past few tours (Japan, Europe) which had been good experiences. I would say Reliance is better. Our tour group leader was this lady, Stella. We had a local tourist guide, Bill (Well his real name is a really complicated name that we Asians couldn't pronounce or remember.) I love his accent,  it's like "It izz veeery coldd outsidee". He's quite funny too !

Since we arrived in the morning, we already started the tour. We visited Hagia Sophia and the Blue mosque which are pretty impressive. I have to say though, they both look REALLY alike except for the colours. Hagia Sophia used to be a church. Our tour guide mentioned about Muslims in Turkey... According to him, Turkey is 99% Muslim. But, he stressed that it's not a 'Muslim country' meaning that there aren't Muslim laws, you practice being a Muslim by heart. Not everyone fasts during Ramadan or not everyone doesn't eat pork or drink alcohol, it's not as strict as other Muslim countries around the world. I found it quite interesting to hear, I didn't expect the country to be practising the religion 'by heart' instead of by force by the law. Those are quite good values, not having to do it by force. But then again, of course some people will be lazy to practice the religion.



Just press play (If it doesn't start automatically). I have now started using the Picasa web albums slideshows, suggested by Ku Zhang!

We also went to some place um I can't really remember lol. All I remember is that we went inside these kind of like museum places and they had all sorts of stuff in it. And I had a hot chocolate. It was so cold, I was so glad to have something warm.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Runnin' around in Penang

As I said in my last post, the main two things we did in Penang was eat and sleep. BUT, we did do some things....

. I went to get my first nasal endoscopy. My dad's youngest brother, Su Su is a doctor. My dad suggested to me that I should get nasal cauterization which is to burn the vessels inside my nostrils so that my nose won't bleed as much since I get nose bleeds.. Especially when I travel which is particularly annoying. I think I must've inherited it from my dad (Just like eczema). But according to my dad, nose bleeds are rather common on his side ! His cousins, one of his siblings etc.

 So, Su Su had to check inside my nose to examine and see whether my case is serious and whether I should do nasal cauterization. The process was so scary. He sprayed this medicine through my nostrils and it went down to my throat and numbed it. And it was disgusting and strong. Then he used a little thing with a small camera in it and went and looked inside my nose. The TV was on so it was rather scary seeing inside my nose.. I saw this on the Doctors when this woman was getting her nasal endoscopy. Looked scary enough. But, my case isn't serious, so I didn't get the cauterization. Phew.

.My parents , Nai Nai and I visited Penang Hill! I haven't been there for many years. I can vaguely remember it. As soon as we went to the cafe terrace, then I kind of started to remember a bit. The walk was really lovely, it was quite cooling but there were a lot of mosquitoes that bit me. They bit my feet because I was wearing flats. Guess they like my blood! :) Had a float at the cafe and has probably one of the best views that looked out to Penang. So pretty!

Oh we also visited a bats cave temple on the way!  Bats are kind of scary.


No flash in the dark = No can't see


Colourful creature

 

. My dad and I went to Kek Lok si temple, the really giant Buddhist temple. It's huge. I've never seen such a big temple before. It has this bronze statue and has pillars surrounding it.
  
 
 


Afterwards, Da Ku and Ku Zhang picked us up and we visited a dam! That place is REALLY pretty. There is so much greenery around. But we didn't stay there for long.

Obvious editing there... But it looks nice.
Oh Penang was so nice. Miss that place, even though I have never lived there.I hope I can go back next summer (Unlikely though I bet)! Ku Zhang is my partner in food :)

Food adventure!

Note: I am posting all sorts of posts about different countries in no particular order. I went to Turkey before Penang, but I'll post about it later.

Not too long ago, but what felt like quite a while ago, my family and my dad's mum (Nai Nai) drove to Penang! Actually I should be saying my parents and I and Nai Nai because both my sisters didn't go. :( Not like previous Penang trips where the whole family went. Except the one before, Yii-Vern only went.  I have so many memories from my Penang trips! Once, Ku Zhang took my sisters and I crab catching at the beach at night. We were screaming because we were too scared to pick the crabs up because of their scary claws, but Ku Zhang just easily picked a few up and was like "See girls, just try to pick one up!". Obviously we weren't fearless. And once, the last trip before, we went to this small coffee shop for char kway teow, and we were done and started to walk away until the old man was yelling at us because we forgot to pay hehehe!
08. That was when I wasn't the tallest in the family.
'10
'12. Do I look different?
I loved Penang.  I mean I love Penang. I loved my time there. I felt like I had nothing to do in KL 2 weeks before besides go to 1 Utama everyday, shopped until well not dropped but became broke and bum around in my cousin's room and use the laptop all day long. Penang was just a lovely getaway from KL.

We took my uncle (Ku Zhang) and aunty (Da Ku whom is my dad's oldest sister)'s car to drive up to Penang since they came earlier the month before and left it in KL. Then they flew back to Penang while we were in Turkey!  It took about 3 or 4 hours to get Penang?

I always enjoy spending time with Ku Zhang and Da Ku. That's one of the main reasons why I'm always so eager (When I mean eager, I always ask my dad every summer) to go to Penang every time I'm back in Malaysia. They're one of my favourite relatives. Ku Zhang is so funny and Da Ku is so nice! When I was really young, Ku Zhang entertained me with magic hehe! I'm really thankful to have such great relatives! And now they have two grandkids! My cousin's wife and my cousin gave birth last year. I'M AN AUNTY NOW. I have two nephews. At age fourteen turning fifteen in March. I didn't expect to be an aunty so soon!  I actually only found out my cousin and  my other cousin's wife were pregnant WHILE I WAS IN BEIJING. We were having lunch at that Western restaurant after Great wall and I found out through my dad and Uncle Dominick.

The atmosphere in Penang is really lovely and vibrant. It's exciting. It's really crazy, the traffic is particular crazy. The traffic is actually worse than KL. We had a lot of near-experience hitting into another car. There are so many motorbikes!!

I LOVE THE FOOD. I was born into one of those food-lovers family. I love all kinds of food. Except for durian. Which brings me to writing that we stopped on the way to Penang.We went to Teluk intan. We visited one of my aunty's, my dad's second sister, Er Ku. She and her husband grow a lot of fruit! They have LOTS of durian and all sorts of fruit. Here is what I will say about durian after eating it. I don't like the smell or the taste of it. The end. I actually had never tried it before, or at least I don't remember. My parents tell me that I'm being such a 'guai lo' meaning westerner in Canto since I've grown up in Australia pretty much half my life. And usually westerners don't like durian. I was watching the Food network and Ku Zhang said that Anthony Bourdain eats everything except for durian.  Both my sisters dislike durian, they've lived in Malaysia much longer than me. I recall once in primary school (Aus), some kid brought durian to school and all everyone was complaining and asking what that smell was!

Basically this trip, there were two main things we did. Eat and sleep.
. *Right after lunch, we talk about going to Penang Hill* Me: WAIT BUT MY CAMERA'S AT THE HOUSE! Dad: Oh no, we're going back first. We oldies need to take our rest mah!"

So it was going out for lunch, back to the house to sleep. While my parents and relatives slept, I would have been watching TV since I'm one of those people who don't like naps. I just feel drowsy after a nap. Last Penang trip, Yii-Vern and I were feeling bloated after having so much yummy (I must've mentioned that word a few times), we'd do squats (How embarrassing) in front of the TV and do all sorts of exercising stuff! But well, since I was on my own this time..... I watched TV. OH Ku Zhang also has this La jing equipment. It's really good to stretch your legs and stuff! You're basically on a 90 degree angle. I can do it pretty much perfectly. So can Ku Zhang and Da Ku! They do it on a regular basis. My parents are nearly there. It's painful for the first few minutes, but you get over the pain. After you're done, you feel lighter and better!
I also played with the cats. Oops I mean cat. Ku Zhang has two beautiful cats whom are siblings with the cutest names. Hakuna and Matata! One is orange, the other is dark. Matata (Which I think is the orange one) is so playful , but when he's playful it means that he starts clawing you. He's really cute and his fur is so soft! Hakuna on the other hand, she's a really beeeautiful cat. Except she doesn't like me. She meowed at me. I tried patting her, she ran away from me. I also saw Mindy! I've seen her for the past few years, she's a really adorable German shepherd! And really obedient and can bark really loud too.

Mummy at the back doing La jiing! Ku Zhang and I were supervising , making sure she wouldn't cheat and stop after just 5 minutes! Oh and her supporting team ehehe

Cute or what?


This was probably the only decent shot I got of Hakuna. Plus one more. I don't think she likes the camera.

So back to what I was describing about Penang, well every corner of your eye, you see a hawker stall. No matter what street you travel to, well most of the time, you'll see all kinds of hawker stalls. I love the hawker stalls there. More than my love for the ones in KL. Oooh the food is just so good! I was actually trying not to eat too much since I've been eating a load of rubbish the past month since I went to Turkey which included a lot of bread and buffets, but after half a day in Penang (Not even one day!), I gave up, declaring to myself that I don't care about eating too much. The food just too good. Too good to resist.

I had to email Ku Zhang about some of the names of these foods!

This fruit, which I'm not sure what it's called in English. It's called 'chempedak'. It's very yummy, I've always liked this fruit. It was also fried and which was even better! Chempedak is related to the jackfruit and a bit like durian. Its appearance sort of looks like durian. But it certainly doesn't taste like durian! It's sweet an plumpy, ooh it's gorgeous!
Fried is the best!
 On the third day, we had probably the biggest breakfast you could ever think of. *Penang style*  My aunty and uncle bought SO much food, really what was supposed to be a 'light' breakfast turned into a feast! As usual, all of the food was good. Just what I needed in the morning!

Just a few pictures before you can look at the slideshow:


This is an Indian kueh called ' Putu Piring'. Very unique taste.

Another Indian dish called ' Putu mayong' . Also a unique taste! Never tried anything like this before!
This slideshow includes the pictures above and yau ja gwai, kuih (My favourite is the blue one with kaya!) , this peanut pancake which was really delicious and Chinese new year cookies that Da Ku made! Her cookies were so nice, I literally couldn't stop eating them, might've just eaten the whole jar! I really liked her almond slices and her coffee biscuits.






Lunch was supposed to be at this Hainanese coffee shop that we all love! Last trip, Ku Zhang and Da Ku took us there and the food was so good! It's run by this old man who well takes a long time (But I respect him. Hard work!) to serve people, BUT the wait is worth it. The food just taste amazing. But it was closed. Last time, Da Ku had to peep through this hole to see whether it was open and had to ask the man to open up the shop ehehe! But this time, it wasn't opened. We were really disappointed :( So instead we went to this other place. The food was nice!





We went to this really big place which has a lot of hawker stalls. We went there on our last Penang trip, but it was at lunch so there weren't that many options. This time, we went at night! It's cooling since there are lots of fans around, they even have a projector and was playing Johnny English. It's much cleaner than your typical Malaysian hawker stall and more orderly since the tables have numbers. I really like that place! I think that was probably one of the best dinners? I liked all of the food,so I can't really say which day was the best. We had so much different variety that night.


The first image is popiah, which is kind of like a spring roll. It's filled with different sort of things with a very thin pancake ish like skin. The second image is chee cheong fan with mayonnaise! Chee cheong fan are rice noodles rice noodle roll. Sometimes it can have prawn, sometimes char siew (Bbqed meat). Hmm I'm not sure which one I prefer! This one I ate, well I know mayonnaise sounds weird with chee cheong fan. When I heard about it, I was surprised. But,it's actually surprisingly really tasty! The third image is this green drink called 'umbra with sour plum' and according to Ku Zhang, it's a drink for the ladies, especially the young ones. It's a sweet drink with a tangy taste because of the plum. It's something different and tasty. The fourth image is a Thai appetizer called 'Meng kam'. Originated from the Northern provinces of Thailand. I love Thai food like duck or green curry.
This dish has all sorts of things, and you wrap it up! It comes with leaves, peanuts , shrimps and a lot more. I like it especially with a lot of peanuts and the sauce!

This is loh bak. This is probably one of my favourite dishes. Loh bak is a pork roll. The pork is minced and marinated and rolled in soybean sheets. 

Some kind of noodles hehe
On the last day before visiting Kek lok si temple, we had breakfast nearby at this busy coffee shop.

The first image is kway chiap. This is noodles with duck served with a light, not heavy soya sauce soup. The second one is fried bee hoon (Noodles). We also had some curry puff!

We ate lunch at this Indian place (I didn't have my camera though)! We've been there before. My dad loves his mee rebus , and he thinks that that place has the best mee rebus. Mee rebus is an Indian mee with lots of spicy gravy, potato, prawn, boiled egg, served with yellow noodles. I was also surprised to see that my dad ordered a REALLY sweet drink. It's a Malay drink. It's ice blended milk with pink syrup! I had a sip, quite nice, but surprised that my dad would drink something like that. He's really not a sweet tooth. But he loves his ice cream (I have to be the food police though. Too much sugar if you eat ice cream everyday!). I had probably the best char kway teow I've ever had! Ku Zhang says that they add fish sauce so that's why it taste different to the normal char kway teow. We had a lot of char kway teow that trip!

Dinner was at Haiy Boey Sea restaurant which is quite far. It took quite a long drive from Air Hitam (Where I was staying at).   My family has been there before with Ku Zhang and Da Ku! The beach is just right next to you, so it's really lovely. At night, there are many coloured lights. We sat outdoors, so it was cooling. It wasn't hot or anything. The food was very good. Fresh seafood!



This oyster was REALLY good. It was fresh from the sea, so refreshing! Normally when my family eats oysters (At Chinese restaurant), they're cooked, but this one is raw! Taste just as good.


The first image is called 'Deep fried bringal (Egg plant)'. It has pork, prawn, dipped in a thin batter and then fried! Voila! Yummy. I love fried stuff. But very unhealthy. The second image is some kind of vegetable. The third image, I believe is called 'Lala'.They're clams. This one had  a hint of spice. The next three images include dish, vegetables and duck with prawn crackers. The image after that is coconut water! I had a lot of coconut water that trip. First at Er Ku's house and at my relative's place. It's really yummy and refreshing! OH AND IT'S NATURAL. I also like the meat inside the coconut. Though, for some reason, I don't like coconut flavoured things. Like lamingtons. Lamingtons are one of those REALLY sweet Australian desserts... Have you ever tried pavlova? It's meringue dessert ( Whipped egg whites + sugar)which is SO SWEET and sickening. Lamingtons have cream and jam in it and the outside is chocolate, covered with shredded coconut. I find the shredded coconut all over the chocolate annoying. But anyways, as I was saying, I really like coconut water. It's not too sweet either!

Next post I'll be posting about we actually did ehehe! This is a food post :)